Richard, did you get a Eurostar in the end? Or have I missed a story about that somewhere else? ...
Glad you asked.
It certainly wasn't as bad as PW's experience last week: I arrived, as suggested, 30 minutes before my train was originally due to leave (at 10am), stood in a long queue for ages and was then given a seat on the first Brussels train which left at 1.25pm. Which it did in fact; then it was slower than usual and then I was hanging around in Lille for an hour before being picked up, but I've had far worse experiences at airports so I mustn't grumble.
However, somewhere along the line I caught a cold, which has slightly put the dampers on this week so far. I am taking a course of this locally-produced medicine.